Will Sasso Locked As Curly In ‘The Three Stooges'; More Casting Rumors

It was announced just a few days ago that Will Sasso had emerged as a front runner to portray any one of The Three Stooges in Bobby and Peter Farrelly’s upcoming feature-length project. The comedic actor has long seemed an obvious choice to play Curley – simply because, well, he’s virtually identical in appearance to original star Jerome Howard.

Sasso is now officially signed on as the knuckle-brain Curly in Three Stooges, which will reportedly have completed its long-running casting process by the end of this week.

Deadline lists Hank Azaria (whose involvement has been rumored in the past) as the current front-runner to play Moe, the short-tempered leader of the Stooges – and the fellow prone to dishing out punishment to his comrades in the form of eye pokes and slaps. Azaria is arguably best known for his voice work on The Simpsons, but he has both the looks and vocal mannerisms to play an entertaining Moe as well.

The role of simple-minded Larry could apparently go to that of X-Men star James Marsden. While the image of Marsden’s solemn Cyclops likely comes to mind first for most moviegoers, the actor has also gotten to show off his humorous side before, in pics like Disney’s Enchanted – and based off his fully committed turn as the noble but oblivious Prince Charming archetype in that movie, I’d say Marsden as Larry could be good fun as well.

James Marsden in 'Enchanted'.

A Three Stooges movie from the Farrelly Brothers has been in the works for years now, and managed to be resurrected following the approval of MGM’s bankruptcy. While the directing duo have never actually made anything but crude and raunchy comedies before, Three Stooges is being designed as a PG-Rated laughfest that will feature classic Stooges physical comedy and music. The film will even be structured as a collection of three half-hour shorts, similar to the original Stooges features.

Here’s how the Farrellys describe their Three Stooges:

“There will be non-stop slapping, more in the tone of ‘Dumb and Dumber’ than anything else we’ve done. Our goal is 85 minutes of laughs in a film that will be very respectful of who the Stooges were. It’s by far the riskiest project we’ve ever done, without question, but it is also the one closest to our hearts.”

Between that description and the potential/actual casting decisions so far, does The Three Stooges sound like something worth checking out?